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by gjm11
3973 days ago
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Unlikely; Wolfram Alpha is based on Mathematica, which has arbitrary-precision integers, and I don't think one wolfram can be more than about 10^12 nano-dijkstras. (If I put "1 wolfram" into Alpha then it tells me about Stephen Wolfram. If I put "2 wolfram" into Alpha it tells me about tungsten. I guess that when you ask it for "1 whatever", it first simplifies it to "whatever", and then you can have variable quantities of tungsten but not of Stephen Wolfram.) |
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On the other hand, referring to "1 wolfram", some would argue that one wolfram could greatly exceed 10^12 nano-dijkstras... Dijkstra was actually quite smart and from reading his essays, I'd consider him quite humble, not arrogant at all.
He had that "old-noble-European cold-joking-seriousness" and most Americans are known to be incapable of understanding this tone of communication.